Itton Ramen & Japanese Street Food — Restaurant in Burnsville

Really wanted to like this place given that there are 2k+ reviews and is at a 5.0. However, a lot of that is the social media hype. It's great that the owner is socially generous, but as a paying customer evaluating the food and experience, it was somewhat disappointing, maybe average at best.

Our table and some parts of the floor were sticky. We went fairly early, around 5:30PM or so. Definitely before any dinner rush, so whatever residue was still on the table was at least there for a few hours. Not claiming to know their process, but maybe swap out to a different cleaning rag between services.

Service was quick, we got our food in less than 10 mins from ordering. Wife got the classic chicken ramen which she said was pretty flavorless. I sampled her ramen broth and chicken meatball and agreed. She also didn't like that they didn't rinse out the baby bok choy so you could still see the spots where they cooked the dirt in (see pic). Additionally, some of here noodles were not cooked. Not even to al dente.

I got the spicy miso ramen which was ok. Similar to hers, wasn't a lot of flavor. By that, I don't mean just add salt, but not a lot of body to the broth at all. In fact, the broth in both of ours was noticeably thinner than at other ramen shops we've been to. Don't know if they thinned it out on purpose or just need to use a bit more miso paste. Additionally, mine was topped with fried garlic, but they were overfried to where they gave off a bitter flavor.

There's not a huge amount of ramen places in general around this area, but still wouldn't recommend coming here for...

I had read about Itton Ramen in Burnsville, as the restaurant is a new entrant into the growing Asian food scene south of the River. This new restaurant is in the old pizza place near Blue Max Liquor Store, just off CR 42.

So, on Saturday night I was really craving "yaki-udon", a wonderful "comfort food" of Japan. Yaki = fried, Udon = large wheat noodles; typically cooked udon noodles are then stir-fried in different regional sauces with vegetables, other proteins thrown in at your option. Yaki soba/Yaki udon are great comfort foods in Japan!

I had the "yasai yaki-udon", and it was served quickly to my table. I also ordered an order of pork gyoza. The gyoza was crispy, and wonderfully prepared. The yaki-udon was similarly delicious, though next time I will ask the staff to fry the udon a bit more (I like them just shy of crunchy!).

While I waited, I admired the outstanding decorations which literally plaster nearly every square inch of the interior of the "izakaya". I also studied the extensive menu! Take a look at my photos; I took photos of the current menu. Wow! Many many options.

Location is good, at the end of a strip mall, lots of free parking. The restaurant is smallish, seating only around 20 people tops? Food was well priced, served piping hot, and delicious! Made me dream about Onomichi-shi or Hiroshima! Very authentic Japanese izakaya comfort foods here.

OH, and they have big bottles (25 oz) of kirin or Sapporo biru for $8! To wash all the delicious tabemono down to my onaka, mind you.... I'll be back to Itton Ramen! Take a look...

🤩Itton Ramen & Japanese Street Food is Ramen heaven for anyone's who's looking to enjoy a hearty hot bowl of delicious 🍜 Ramen packed with so much flavor. My favorites so far are number 1 and number 2. I like mine with everything in it. That's another thing, their add on list is very impressive, making it easy to customize your bowls just the way you like it. I like to add extra chicken & pork, corn, egg, mushroom, green onion, nori, and a little bit of chili oil. Yummm! Next time I'm going to try it with the fried chicken. And don't forget a order of fried dumplings or gyozas as a appetizer. Or better yet the pork buns. * Drooling just thinking about them. The flavors just explode in your mouth. The fried oysters and the shrimp skewers are also delicious. You can't go wrong with any of the stir frys or fried rice dishes. Everything is cooked fast and to perfection. They also have a lot of unique drinks to try. So far I've had the marble soda which was cool (where you use the top to push down a glass marble to open it. The kids liked that. ) and the grape yumu soda or something like that. They're not as sweet as typical US sodas. They're light and refreshing . The orange or mango one is my favorite 😍. You get a decent amount of food without having to break the bank. Plus everyone this is so nice here. Oh and in case yhall were wondering... they do have vegetarian...